In Niagara County all the Vol. Fire Companies are dispatched from the County Sheriffs communication center. We are dealing with dispatchers that work both Fire/EMS and law enforcement. Law is a lot of 10 codes, Fire has almost none. Fire is dispatched in plain language.

Each Company has a numeric designation that relates to our NYS OFPC County code of 32. My Companies NYS code is 32025.

Each type/class of equipment has an alpha designation plus the actual apparatus number. Our Engine 1's call sign is 25E-1.

Pumpers are E-X, Aerials are A-X, Tankers are T-X, Rescue's and other misc. equipment (including Chiefs, Asst Chiefs) are M-X. Chief is always M-7, 1st Asst is M-7A, 2nd Asst is M-7B, etc. Our rescue is 25M-4. Ambulances are R-9, second ambulance for same company would be R-9A.

Agree with KISS, plain language communications. 10-4 is about the only regularly used 10 code along with 10-97 (arrived on scene). You can tell the guys who listen to the cops on the scanner as they'll try using all the other 10 codes on the radio. Fire Control knows what they mean but if they're talking to another piece of equipment/company with somebody onboard that is not scanner-wise, it gets pretty amusing when the reply comes back 'Speak English please!'.

I to am from Niagara County and our Code is 32008 which makes our station 8. I agree with some of the problems of in service and out of service. In our county (correct me if I am wrong TCFire) In service means available for call, out of service means not available. If we are out of the station on training or for special events we say out in radio contact. Plain text is typically the easiest to understand, however some people do not know the KISS method of speaking. For example people have been known to tie up the radio expressing info that could be summed up in a 3 word message. This becomes extreemly stressful when responding to mutal aid calls and attempting to contact the requesting agency.
TCFire you know what I mean if you hear any of our calls this end of the county.

Maybe I'm overlooking the KISS again here, but being from an area where letters aren't used was there any set formula to come up with what's used there? I can see where the ones you use there would fit in, but who sat down and came up with what to mean what? Anybody from the New Hampshire area care to answer this question as well? I know from some of the posts here that they use letters up there too. Just to be curious.

we dont use 10 codes that much anymore. we find it alot simplier using plain english. for our appartus, we use the type of appartus then the number, ie: Truck 1, Engine 2,3,4,5. Car 1,9,10,11,12. Utility 8. We find it much easier that way. as far as firefighter identities, we find no need for the 3 or 4 digit code. we use the appartus idea with a numerical. ie: Engine 3A (A= officer, B= right tailboard, C= left tailboard, D= driver. been using this way for years, found no problems with it.

Maybe I'm overlooking the KISS again here, but being from an area where letters aren't used was there any set formula to come up with what's used there? I can see where the ones you use there would fit in, but who sat down and came up with what to mean what? Anybody from the New Hampshire area care to answer this question as well? I know from some of the posts here that they use letters up there too. Just to be curious.

The Letters designating the apparatus type are assigned by the company but consideration is given to the apparatus' primary function. For example we have a Rescue/Engine that is a front line engine, it could be considered an M under the Niagara county coding system. We named it 8E-3, We also have an 8E-1 being our older engine. Our apparatus is coded as follows

8E-1 is a 1988 Saulsbury Engine
8E-3 is a 2000 RD Murray Rescue/Engine
8T-2 is a Saulsbury Tanker/Pumper
8R-9 is the ambulance
8M-5 is a Fire Police vehicle
8M-4 is our old rescue truck

Basically the number after the dash is made up by the company. Ambulances are always given the #R-9 code and the backup ambulance is called #R-9A and so on. Typically only the companies that respond mutual aid with each other frequently will need to know what the unit code is. If I were to be responding to a call in TCFires area I would call Saying: Lewiston 2 Rescue Engine/Tanker/Engine to ...

Originally posted by One13Truck:I'm amazed at all the different numbering scemes out there (we have County #'s that are not used and our mutual aid #'s that are used). Our County # is 172, 172 engine 1, 172 engine 2, 172 ladder 1, 172 F1, F2, F3, and F4. Ambulance 11A and 11B (also our rescue). Our Mutual Aid is Station 10, E11, E12, L113, A14, R15, Chief 16, 17, 18, and 19. Anybody care to share theirs? For any further info on the system our County uses click on our homepage which can be found at the bottom of this post (cheap plug), I have both the "official lists", 10 code lists, and the Lists actually in use by the units in the County. On a secondary subject as well: Plain language vs. codes, your opinions??? I seem to be outvoted on this one so far. I prefer all codes and #'s. What do you think???

Maybe you should get into the 90's and read a little about incident command. "10" codes have gone the way of the dinosaur...

We just usually use plain english so no one gets confused. our county has assigned to our different departments. my department number is 11. our units in the county go by the following:
station number then unit type then unit number for example
1112 is our engine
11 is the department
1 shows its an engine
2 is the id number
0 chief, 1 engine, 2 ladder, 3 tanker, 4 brush, 5 rescue, 6 ambulance, 7 utility, 8 fire police, 9 unit portables Emergency ID #

Our county use to use two sets of numbers; The first set was your station number the second was for the type of unit you responded or which officer you were.
the numbering for aparatus was as follows;
Engines were 11 through 14
Towers or snorkels were 16
Ladder trucks and Tele squirts were 17
Rescues 18
QRS units 19
Tankers 20,21
pumper tankers 22,23
Squads 24
Engine Rescues 29
Fire Police vehicle 31
Ambulances 51-54, 61

Currently Fire units call out using there the type of unit it is and station number . IE Truck 22 Responding or if its a line officer then it would be there title and there station number. IE Captain 25 responding. They did not change the system for Fire Police and EMS.

we just use engine 1, rescue 1, etc.. When on a mutual aid we use dept. name then engine 1. Each person has a county number ie. battalion 18, firefighter # 17 = 18f17. Clear text is the only way to go in my opion.

To many numbers already,stick with the plain text. As far as the numbering goes our Department is numbered like this.

First 1-2 numbers indicate Dept. 3rd number is the station number. And last number is the type. 1-4 Engines 5-Ladder 6-Tankers 7-Rescues 8-Utlitys 9-Aid Cars

5511-Engine
5512-Engine
5516-Tanker
5519 Aid Car ETC.
This way you know what type of equip. and were it is coming from during mutual aid calls. Seems to work for us. But remember if it ain't broke don't fix it.

i feel these are flexible to most areas and give you a half decent idea of what you have coming for mutial aid, you might not know how much hose you got coming but you know the truck will fill a certian need. this is in an area where most co.s are vol. and might not apply to cities that have all paid dept.s but then again it probably could.

I know there are alot of differences in East Coast and West Coast Departments, but the East seems to use the most diverse numbering and 10 code systems around. Here in the south West it's straight forward, unit type, then number-"Engine/Truck/Squad/Rescue-1 or 11 or 111 or 1111".
I hate the 4 diget unit id, "Engine 2314" the 23 is the dept, 1 is an engine,4 is the station!!?!! Stupid!! This taken from the Cal Dept Forstry,
The 10 codes seem to work for FDNY who doesn't need any help from any other depts but most of So. CA relies on other depts for auto aid and we all use the ICS.

As I've said, codes work great for us... But what works good one place is a disaster for other places. Our County does all use the same code system though (okay Wilkes Barre City uses a code for in quarters nobody else uses but very rarely is mautal aid needed/provided by them) so they have a universal County-wide meaning to them. Makes for a lot less radio traffic.

As I've said, codes work great for us... But what works good one place is a disaster for other places. Our County does all use the same code system though (okay Wilkes Barre City uses a code for in quarters nobody else uses but very rarely is mutual aid needed/provided by them) so they have a universal County-wide meaning to them. Makes for a lot less radio traffic.

My town uses plain english on the radio to comply with ICS but, this is a recent thing (2 years ago). Prior to plain english, we used 10-codes. The main problem that I've noticed with the transition is that we have some members that seem to love to hear their own voice so, they turn what could be a 5 second message into a 3 minute dissertation with a ton of things that nobody really needed to or cared to know.

As far as truck numbering goes, our system seems overly complicated when it's written but its rather simple in use. OK, in all honesty, it IS extremely complicated on paper and all but impossible to explain but there is a rhyme and reason to it and it works for us. It's similar some described here and it's also similar to systems used by our neighboring towns. Our unit numbers use the second digit of our county district number (35) for the first digit (we only get the second number because the cops use a similar system and they don't want duplicate unit numbers). The second number is the company number that the apparatus is assigned to (1-5). Here's where it gets REALLY strange... IF the second number is 1-5 and the third number is a zero the unit is an ambulance, if the second number is a 6 it's the department chief. Nevermind this... if you really want to see it check out our pathetic homepage at: www.fire@rockawaytownship.org/fire/fire_department.html

See?? Even our site address is overly complicated!!! I guess it's just they way they do things around here.